Letting Go of the Bay Leaf: Grouse

Showing posts with label Grouse. Show all posts

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Mosaic Monday #165: Inching Along

My January 9 summary "775 Miles Alongside Man with Hat" whet my appetite to write more about hiking, so lace up your boots and don your hat. Join us for our 12-mile journey around the Quartz Lake Loop on September 28, 2017, Entry 24 in my hiking journal.

This hike is a superb example of why we hike on fine Autumn days. Cool temperatures (28 degrees at 9 am) fostered a rolling mist, lending a mystical air to Bowman Lake as we began the hike.

Several Grouse dotted the road on the way to the trailhead, and more populated the trail. They have a funny way of running ahead of you on the path, rather than flying away.

Dry leaves rustled underfoot, raising that unmistakable Autumn aroma into my nostrils. I breathed deep, relaxing into the solace of the wilderness.

At the proverbial fork in the trail, we chose the left, heading to Upper Quartz Lake. Deep forest envelops you, and you quickly lose sight of Bowman Lake. Gentle elevation gain and two hours later, we had earned our first view of Lower Quartz Lake. (Yes, we are heading to Upper Quartz, but the topography offers Lower Quartz first.)

Dramatically, the trail drops in a descent to the valley floor. On the way, we glimpse Upper Quartz on the left and Middle Quartz on the right.

The beach at Upper Quartz Lake offers a full-on view of Bighorn Mountain. For future reference, we note that the campsites are right on the lake and situated close together. Wouldn't you like to wake up to this panorama?

We quickly encountered this bridge between Upper and Middle Quartz, and just as rapidly learned that Middle Quartz is not accessible. Thick Alder guards the lake edges, which spin away into the distance, forming an impenetrable barrier (unless you are a Moose!)

The afternoon sun sent slanting rays through the trees, and fluff from Fireweed floated lazily in the air, seeking a winter resting place, fertile ground for reproduction.

The path between Middle and Lower Quartz Lake undulates like a kiddie rollercoaster, and sports many recently downed trees, likely victims of a wind storm.

At Lower Quartz Lake, the camping sites are more secluded, and not all have views of the lake.

The climb from Lower Quartz back to the ridge was short but steep. But for me, the descent to Bowman, a series of many switchbacks, was worse - a quad killer! The whole day, we only saw six people on the trail, and all of them were on this section. A middle-aged couple (with no bear spray) was just hitting the trail and hoping to make it to Lower Quartz. I always wonder if these are the people we hear about on the news!

With the day's sun, the mist had burned off and we had stunning views of the lake, Numa Ridge, Mount Peabody, Rainbow Peak and Mount Carter.

Can you believe the two photos below are the same view, just 7 hours apart?

Although it does not show up on the photos, the mountains had a dusting of snow, as though someone had shaken a little powdered sugar on them!

On the way home, we stopped at the Polebridge Mercantile for their famous baked goods. Just a few miles further on, a road-side sign advertising Huckleberry Margaritas enticed us to pop into Home Ranch Bottoms - it was as good as it sounded!

But perhaps best of all was the evening sunlight, casting its special glow on the already-golden larches and aspens.

***There will be no Mosaic Monday on February 6; come back and link up February 13!

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.

The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Tuesday (U.S. Mountain time).

Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.

Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.

As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.

Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.

Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Mosaic Monday #78: A "Wait"-y Month

Graham crackers with cream

cheese frosting and nuts

As I set about preparing this post, a recap of April 2020, I began as I always do, scanning the photos from the month. A dangerous thing to do in this instance, with the preponderance of food photos. Did we do anything other than eat? I mentioned this to Spousal Unit, and he said the motto for the month was F-A-N - Food + Alcohol + Netflix. Whatever you call it, I have managed to gain four pounds since February. Yikes, I am going to have to make some changes! For now, let’s enjoy the photos – at least they don’t have calories!

Team Cooking: Stuffed Tomatoes and Chicken in Cinnamon Sauce

We weren't big fans of either recipe

Just another breakfast omelet!

Apple Pie made with all of the remaining

2019 Goodland apples from my Mom's tree

Team cooking: Corned Beef Pasties. The filling was outstanding; we

would replace the pastry with the one Head Chef uses for steak pie

Upper left: Red Beans and Rice Upper right: Pork, Applesauce and Vegies

Bottom: Corned Beef Hash and Scrambled Eggs

Of course, there was more to the month than eating. Anxious to get out of the house for a change of scenery, we attempted some hikes. I say attempt because two of the three were unsuccessful.

Upper left: we made it to Lupine Lake on 4/2

Upper middle: Glacier National Park Closed

Upper right: Snake Loop Trail - only made it a mile from here on 4/9

Lower left: only made it a mile from here on 5/1

Lower right: COVID-19 Save Lives Now Stay Home

Countryside driving also helped us escape our four walls.

Upper photos - making S'mores along the river

Lower left: Kootenai River Lower right: Playing Rook,

one of my childhood games

Left: Osprey nest along Thompson River

Scenes along Thompson River

Searching for any excuse to have a celebration (or was it any excuse to have champagne?), we jumped at the second anniversary of moving into our log house. It may sound like an unlikely pairing, but we tried a new recipe (Biscuits and Gravy Casserole) to accompany our champagne. I love breakfast for dinner (well, for any meal), and it wasn’t too far to stretch imagining that champagne as a mimosa!!!

#1 Son celebrated his birthday during the month, and on one our Skype calls he jokingly threw up a picture of a $800 Lego set of the Millennium Falcon, with “Birthday?” scrawled across it. We couldn’t (and wouldn’t) get close to buying it for him, so I did the next best thing and stitched him up a Falcon. This joined several other quirky items meant to create a mini-Grand Cayman care package – sun cream, mini bottles of rum, a sea shell, biryani recipe, cardamoms and bay leaves. After all, it became very apparent as April marched on, that we would not be going to Grand Cayman to celebrate his college graduation. This care package would have to do for now.

Albert Tennyson wrote: “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” Perhaps he should have written a corollary for middle-aged men: “In the Spring a middle-aged man’s fancy heavily weighs to thoughts of fishing.” Man with Hat began tying flies again, spreading feathers, thread and wire across the table on the lower level. Of course, one can never have enough gear, so one day the UPS man brought this lovely fashion item - his first set of waders, ever. Don’t you just love the look?

It was my turn to indulge myself when I bought a “new” card game. For some reason, I got to thinking about a card game that we used to play when I was just little. I could not remember the name of it, but the concept and the design of the cards was burned into my neurons. It is a “driving” game, and some of the cards are designed to stop your opponent from progressing. Even thinking about the cards would bring a smile or even a giggle to the surface. I did some research and quickly (re)learned that the name of the game is Touring. And would you know that good old Google informed me that there was ONE set out there, the exact set we had when I was a kid? A wink from Spousal Unit, and a twist of his head, soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread. I spoke not a word, and went straight to work, ordering that vintage game! It has brought me great joy to play it again, and to show the cards to our kids, who agree it is delightfully quirky and funny.

Everything is as I remember it, down to the "green felt" case with the cards and instructions.

This version of Touring was created/sold in 1965. I adore the simple artistry which is so

compelling - the mustached man is SO expressive (and the animals are too)!

Dried Yarrow in my garden

The month was not all jollies. My Mom was admitted to the hospital for a couple of nights (not related to COVID-19), and then released to the skilled nursing facility at her senior living community. While the facility and the broader community have not had any COVID-19 cases, this development has caused more than a small amount of anxiety in my family. We all have heard the tales of aged family members in these facilities, where they cannot be visited by anyone other than medical staff. Well, now this has come home to roost. We are continuing to pray for her recovery and a return to her home environment when it is medically prudent.

Glacier Lily in my garden

Each day, I followed the growth of Montana COVID-19 cases, which peaked on April 11 with 23 new cases for a total of 377 cases (6 deaths). As of yesterday, we have 455 cases (16 deaths), and we have averaged 1.6 new cases a day in the state for the last week. Based on this and other factors, the Governor started a phase one re-opening on April 24. It is encouraging, but I think there are many of us that are still skittish to resume anything close to “normal” until we have been able to significantly ramp up testing, conduct contact tracing and/or have a vaccine. In other words, my wishes from this post will have to wait a little longer.

Way down on the scale, in the category of “first world problems”, we officially cancelled our trip to Ohio for #1 Son’s graduation (the ceremony would have been today) and the follow-on vacation to Grand Cayman. Glacier National Park notified us that we would be refunded for our backcountry camping applications, and it is unknown when they might be issuing any backcountry camping permits (can you hear the bears and other wildlife celebrating?) The Alaska fishing trip Spousal Unit had scheduled in August with several buddies has been cancelled. Sigh.

Reflection in Hodge Lake

Raptor on my trail cam

So, I continue to keep myself busy, with sewing projects, walks, and checking the trail cam.

Violet Protest Project

I made two masks from a barely worn shirt.

I was blessed to find fusible interfacing in my

Mom's sewing machine, and elastic in my

sewing kit. Using the sewing machine

was like riding a bike - you never forget!

Sandhill cranes returned to our lake on 4/8

We woke up one morning and this grouse was on our deck. I am not sure how it got there, but it certainly seemed confused about how to leave. When I gently shooed it, it halfheartedly tried flying through the cables of the deck fence, as though it had already tried that. So, I guided it around the side deck and down into the garden. It finally moved off under the front porch, as you can see in the video below.

A future post will show you what’s happening in the garden; for now I will show you a couple of pictures of the Oriole feeder that I put out on April 30 (you may remember this was a Christmas gift).

Of course, I was over the moon to be able to kayak with my Dear Neighbor Friend this week since the stay-at-home directive was lifted (pretty easy to maintain the six foot clearance in a kayak!) I was too busy talking to her to take any pictures, so I will leave you with one of my favorite photos from a past kayak excursion with her. This was taken the morning after a crazy storm, and for me, it represents the hope of better days to come.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

MM #52: A Few of My Favorite Things

(to be sung to the tune of My Favorite Things, made famous by Julie Andrews)

Sheep on the hillside and grouse on the moor
Pretty carved pumpkins light up the front door
Time with the family, it's always a fling
These are a few of my favorite things

Ponies at the seashore, ice cream to boot
Hiking the footpaths, do we know the route?
Parsnips and leeks, the garden it brings
These are a few of my favorite things

Mushrooms are popping all over the place
Old country barns that fall down with grace
Wine at the pub, a drink fit for kings
These are a few of my favorite things

Yes, we have been in the UK for nearly two weeks, and most of the activities I hoped for have come to pass. Spousal Unit and I walked the footpaths near Reeth, and although we technically lost our way, it did not diminish our enjoyment one iota. The River Swale punctuated our walk, as we followed a loop that began and ended near the river.

The Reeth Swing Bridge. The original bridge, which stood for 80 years,

was destroyed in a flood in September 2000. The current bridge was

completed in 2002 and perfectly replicated the original.

As we climbed higher on the moor, the classic view of farm fields in a patchwork formed by dry stone walls lay before us.

Red grouse rose regularly from the heather, winging away with their characteristic call.

Look closely - a grouse is standing in the water

I will never tire of these moments; I stand above the valley, attempting to soak the vista into my very bones.

Top: a grouse butt is typically a stone structure used to conceal hunters

Time with family has included days out and relaxation at home. Our customary trip to the seaside town of Whitby offered an extra bonus since it was also Goth Weekend, which drew scads of visitors in costumes ranging from Steampunk to Victorian. The town was heaving (read: crammed with people), and it was almost impossible to take quality pictures, but perhaps you get the idea with the mosaics below. We were fortunate to find a restaurant without a long queue; you can't leave Whitby without sampling the fresh fish and chips!

Upper right: Pony rides Lower right: A section of ruined Whitby Abbey

Lower left: How I feel some days - just kidding! People used parts

of the ruined Abbey for other structures

Upper left: Jewelry I purchased at the craft fair

Upper right: More Abbey ruins

Lower left: Never too cold for someone in England to be in the sea

At home, it's been running, playing Mexican Train, afternoon walks, a bit of stitching and my mother-in-law's tasty home cooking (hence the running and afternoon walks).

Upper left: English bacon, fried egg and mushrooms. English bacon is akin to eating thin slices of ham!

Middle left: A leek and carrots from my father-in-law's garden

Bottom left: Pan Haggerty made with the leek and carrots from the garden, plus potatoes and corned beef

Center top: Parsnip still in the garden Center bottom: Spotted Dick with custard

Far right: Shepherd's Pie with Carrots, Leeks, Green Beans and Corn

A feeling of deep contentment comes over me when I sit in the front room, working the felt applique on my ornaments, and chatting with my mother-in-law.

To celebrate Halloween, we carved pumpkins using patterns that you can buy in many shops. The weather was brisk but sunny, so we worked outside. An ideal autumn day in my sentimental world of traditions.

I will tell you more about our stay in the UK in future posts - you can expect more countryside, and historic buildings. But as the metaphorical sun begins to set on our getaway, I have saved the best for last to close this entry. If you read my October 13 post, you'll know that I was hoping to see a hedgehog (as I always do). Can you believe it? While we were in Hamburg, my in-laws found two (two!) hedgehogs in their garden, the first time in 40 years! Check out the videos below. It may not have been the in-person encounter I wanted, but it was good enough for me.

Due to our return travel, I may be delayed in commenting. See you then!

Mosaic Monday